I like to preach with the Bible in my hand.
"As you take the Bible in your hands, remember that . . . angels are around you, and could your eyes be opened, you would behold them."—Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 195. Every preacher covets the power that these celestial visitors bring into his sermons. The theme of the Word of God is Jesus. It is said that no sooner is the name of Jesus mentioned in love and tenderness than angels of God draw near, to soften and subdue the heart.
Jesus and the Word are one. There is regenerating power in the Word, but it awaits the skillful touch of the preacher to reveal it to the sinner. "Ye must be born again" "by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." John 3 :7; I Peter I :23. Too often in our sermons we disclose to the people what is distinctly not enclosed in the text of Scripture. Thus speculation and private interpretation rob the Word of God of its power to save, and dull the sword of the Spirit. Most pitiful is the strange situation produced by the sad spectacle of a preacher standing before his people bereft of power.
"Preach the Word," is the command of the apostle. "One sentence of Scripture is of more value than ten thousand of man's ideas or arguments."—Testimonies, Vol. VII, p. 71. "In God's Word is found wisdom unquestionable, inexhaustible, . . . wisdom that originated, not in the finite, but in the infinite mind." With what imprudence then does the preacher come before his people, presenting to their minds the husks of human thought, when he might as a faithful husbandman be planting the incorruptible seed of the Word.
Too many stories, like air in a balloon, fill up too many sermons. True, stories are windows, but who would like to live in a house of glass? On the other hand, some sermons are entirely void of stories, and this leaves the house of faith very dark indeed.
Our responsibility is to know the Word of God so well that we can handle it as workmen "that needeth not to be ashamed." Our knowledge of Bible stories, of Bible doctrine, of Bible history, of Bible chronology, is often painfully inadequate.
Early in his ministry Moody found himself barren and powerless, full of good works and zeal, but without power. He then went to England and learned from Spurgeon and others the cause for his failure. He learned that he was pitifully ignorant of the Bible. Returning home, he gave it first place in his studies, spending whole summers poring over its truth-filled pages, until its power so filled his life that multitudes were converted under his preaching.
There is a glory in the Word! Micaiah's determination should be ours : "As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith . . . , that will I speak."
Kings 22:14. There is a danger that we shall depend upon moral lessons preached with great earnestness, that we shall count upon eloquent sermons executed with impressive skill, that the eleven o'clock hour in our churches will be so occupied with promotion and announcements that the Word of God will be robbed of its lawful, rightful place. But nothing else can ever take the place of the Bible in our church services.
That part of the Bible dealing with the second advent and the judgment needs special emphasis by Adventist preachers. "Adventists have given to the world an eschatology," I once heard a famous Baptist preacher say. So startling are the prophetic announcements of the coming of the Lord, and s'o clear, that to present less essential truths to the world is folly indeed. We may make the messages of the three angels the basis for many of our sermons. The old-fashioned way of taking the Bible in hand and turning to text after text, reading, commenting, connecting, summarizing, is still a good way. The people should be taught to bring their Bibles to church and to read the texts.
"The most effectual way to find access to those whom we wish to educate in the truth, is to have them bring their Bibles, and point them to the chapter and verse, that they may see for themselves that these things are so. The people are so utterly deceived in regard to what the Bible does teach, that they will say, 'It does not read so in my Bible.' But ask them to bring their Bibles and show them the very chapter and verse you wish to impress upon their minds, and they will be surprised at the plain statements of revealed truth which they read out of their own Bibles."—Gospel Workers (1893), P. 410.
Forsake Not the Textbook of Faith
The Bible is our textbook of faith. Forsaking it, we forsake God, and He us. To the Adventist preacher a "thus saith the Lord" is final. Accepting that premise, he will preach it "as one having authority, and not as the scribes" or the time-serving ecclesiastics of our day to whom the Word of God is nothing more than a fairy tale or Hebrew folklore.
The early Adventist preacher was expected to read the Bible through once each year in addition to the many hours he spent in doctrinal and historical study. Ellen G. White wrote:
"Sometimes the entire night was spent in solemn investigation of the Scriptures, that we might understand the truth for our time."—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 25.
"Young ministers may speak the truth fluently, and yet have no real sense of the words they utter. They do not appreciate the value of the truth they present, and little realize what it has cost those, who, with prayers and tears, through trial and opposition, have sought for it as for hid treasures."—Testimonies, Vol. IV, p. 446. (See also Vol. VI, p. 132.)
One great thing is needful : a renewed emphasis on Bible preaching. Someone may say, "Of all ministers, Seventh-day Adventist ministers preach the Bible most." But we do not preach the Bible enough. Let us be true to our ordination charge found in 2 Timothy 4:2 : "Preach the Word."
